Chipper (tobacco)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A chipper is an occasional tobacco smoker who does not smoke with the regularity or frequency that is typical of addicted smokers. Such occasional users of tobacco are sometimes thought of as social smokers which is similar in meaning to social drinkers. However, evidence indicates that this only characterizes a minority of chippers.[1] The prevalence of non-daily smoking in the U.S. has increased by 40% between 1996 and 2001.[2]
Chippers are given as an example in The Tipping Point; if chippers begin smoking above a certain threshold (or tipping point), then they will develop regular cravings and become addicted.
The term, and indeed the concept itself, was coined in the 1980s by renowned psychologist Dr. Saul Shiffman, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.[3]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Shiffman, S. & Paty, J.A. (2006). Smoking patterns of non-dependent smokers: Contrasting chippers and dependent smokers. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 509-523.
- ^ Centers for Disease Control (2003). Prevalence of current cigarette smoking among adults and changes in prevalence of current and some day smoking -- United States, 1996-2001. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 52, 303-307.
- ^ Shiffman, S. (1989). Tobacco "Chippers": Individual differences in tobacco dependence. Psychopharmacology, 97, 539-547.
